Tag Archives: soundcloud

Normally, by this time of the year, I usually have created 3 or 4 songs but this last year has not been a normal year. I moved 5 times, house-trained a puppy which I ended up having to give up, had 10 teeth removed and am still in the process of getting used to the dentures, and that is just to mention a few of the abnormal things, I have had to deal with. As a result, my 2nd book in my Shadow Shifters series is running a little late, and there is no time to create music, while I am playing catch up.

To further complicate matters, I upgraded a lot of my equipment. Of course, this will allow me to create even better things music wise, but these new tools have to be learned too!

So, while I am learning the new stuff and playing catch up with my book series, I have been uploading various things, I have in the works. None of them are complete yet, but you can get an idea of what may be coming in the future. I have been posting them to my Soundcloud account- http://soundcloud.com/lucid-chaos so you can at least get an idea of what is going on, behind the scenes.

I can make no guarantees that this year, I will complete an entire CD. Hopefully, I will be able to get at least a couple of good songs up before year end.

The music has not died within me, it is just waiting for the time to be released once more.

As I stated in my original post, I have been strongly considering not posting any more music up to the web. My soundcloud account has run out of FREE space and the time it takes to create and share the music, just takes too much time if nobody is supporting it. Basically it becomes a complete waste of time without any support. From the feedback I received, I noticed that a number of people thought the only way to support a musician was by purchasing their music. That is hardly the case and not what I was trying to get across. So let me make this perfectly clear for future reference. There are many ways to support a band/artist. Of course you can buy the music, but you can also share a link to it, or even just tell your friends. You can also show your support by following them on various sites.

At any rate, a funny thing seemed to happen, after I posted my last song to Soundcloud. I started gaining more followers. While at the same time people who rarely RT’ed my music posts, pretty much stopped. With all this conflicting information, I am left at a loss, as to where to go.

I decided, the most simple way to find out is to add new songs to Reverbnation and Bandcamp only, thus watching the plays at those sites and how much sharing is going on, should provide me with all the information I need, in order to decide if sharing music is something to continue with or not.

However, I will be deleting my Fb band page and Soundcloud account, merely for the fact that they have proven useful in no way what-so-ever. If you are a band I connected with on FB or Soundcloud, you are welcome to instead connect on Reverbnation, or Bandcamp.

My announcement of the new digital album “New Times” showed me a number of things. Firstly, I already knew that the last song Slipping By would use most of my remaining space at Soundcloud, which meant quite simply, if the album sales did not do well, then there would be no money for a space upgrade at Sound cloud. It was my hope, that in supporting other Musicians on Twitter, that they would return the favor and RT my album announcement. This did not happen. Therefore, there will no space upgrade to the Soundcloud account. I may post a few teasers for next year’s album…if I even decide to pursue that.

You can only bang your head against the wall so many times before you start to bleed. I have come to that point. I cannot and will not continue to explain or justify any more music related purchases of apps or equipment, when there is no return on the investment. I can always justify to myself creating the music because I love to do it, but I cannot justify more burden on my wife, when nobody is willing to support the musical work. Sorry, I love my wife too much to do that.

Now whether I even bother with posting any more songs to Bandcamp(or Reverbnation) is an entirely different matter, and I suppose it is one, that the fans will ultimately decide. You see, I can continue creating music and fulfill my desire to create. I do not HAVE to share them with anyone in order to satisfy that desire. Thus ,it really is up to the fans on whether I share. If they show a desire and willingness to support me, and any future music I create, then I will decide to share the music. If they don’t, I won’t.

It is not all about the money, it is also about desire. The money is a pittance at best. I mean really, selling songs for $.50 literally nets me a quarter per song, after Bandcamp’s take and taxes. So obviously that is not important. What IS important is that fans show a real desire to support what I am creating. If the support does not exist, then the desire to share, will not either. It is simply how life works. I am a real person who has feelings and like anyone else, when I feel my time is being wasted on something, I move on.

You, my friends, followers, fans, readers, and fellow musicians will decide the fate of my music, not I. That reminds me of a quote I heard someone say on a TV show. The quote goes something like this… “Given the choice and opportunity, people will ALWAYS choose to do the stupid and selfish thing, every time.” I hope that all of you prove that quote wrong. But, in the end, the choice is yours to make. It affects you more than me, because I will still be able to create, YOU just won’t be able to hear it.

Like this:

This is the last song for my cd titled “New Times”. I will let you know when the cd is put together. At any rate, it is a straight up rock song. It is the last full song I will post this year. I have some decisions to make regarding music and a novel that soon shall be back in my hands, waiting for my final edit and then to send on, to the beta readers. O.k. I shut up now and let you listen to the damn song.:)

Like this:

Nobody can accurately predict any future event, for the future has far too many possibilities and is never engraved in concrete. But for today, I am going to pretend, like I do not have my head up my ass, and make an educated guess.

The future of music is streaming. Apple apparently agrees, and so do many other businesses, who are now backing these streaming services. While this might be a great idea for the music fan who likes to surf music, it is not a great idea for musicians. We already put so much money into the equipment we use to create the music and none of it is cheap. Even apps add up after a time. That is why sites who host a musician’s music for FREE such as Soundcloud (limited amount of tracks), Reverbnation (limited quality of tracks), and Bandcamp (only accepts lossless files) are important to musicians. We musicians already spent so much just to get the equipment, not to mention the many years of learning, and having to market ourselves. In the future, we will be expected to pay more money, to be on a streaming service. In hopes, that someone will actually, buy something.

Let face it, I create music for fun. It is something I like to do. That is why I do not give a rat’s ass if people buy it and it is also why I have entire digital CD downloads for only $4.00. I do not care about making money from doing it. However, I do care about spending money, on something I am not making any money on. I have bills to pay like everyone else.

If this is indeed the future of music, I will probably just start giving away my music, and sell all my music equipment. There is no sense in creating things, nobody is going to get the chance to enjoy! It’s reasons like this, that people need to support indie musicians. Without fan support, the music dies.